An odd film. One of four that Peter Rogers made for Rank around this time in addition to his Carry On movies, three from the team of Sidney Hayers and George H Brown of which this is one. I get what they were going for - 48 hours in the life of a cop. That's good. A new Blue Lamp. Great. The writer of Z Cars terrific.
Why not do a look at being a young cop in 1971? It's actually a great idea - a time of rising crime and protests, people spitting on you, protests, terrorism.
There's glimpses of this here - a sequence where Martin Potter (the star) waits with his fellow cops as protestors come down, shots of him doing humdrum patrols.
But he seems to have a lot of spare time. He's got a wife and baby. They go to a party, a wedding. He meets a chappie (Nicky Henson, good) and a woman (Julia Foster, also good). They hit it off, leave the party, his wife is annoyed, he says sorry, then he says he's going to a game, he meets up with Foster and roots her doesn't mention he's married, later goes to the pub, meets Henson and Foster who finds out he's married, does some first aid, is revealed to Henson and Foster to be a cop, then goes to sleep, kid gets sick, gets doctor, goes to protest, gets injured, does a final inspection of estate, runs into Foster and Henson.
It feels longer than 48 hours. Especially Henson and Foster's relationship, it's like they've been together for weeks.
There's odd detours. Foster's mother's boyfriend is sleazy with Foster. Henson's landlady flirts with him. Ian Hendy appears (very effective) as a head gangster and he has a gay underling (Kray homage?)
It feels patchy. Rewritten. Unsatisfying. Has some interesting bits.
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